6 reasons to use a solver community to solve internal problems in your business

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What is a Solver Community?

A solver community is a network of experienced professionals who work together to solve a problem or overcome an obstacle your business is facing. In contrast to a traditional research and development department, a solver community consists of people outside the company. Here are 6 important reasons for your company to use a solver community to find solutions.

Promoting new ideas and revenue streams

The most obvious advantage of a solver community is the wealth of new ideas that can be generated in a very short time. These ideas, in turn, represent potential new revenue streams. Solver community members are primarily innovators, but they enjoy taking on new challenges to help grow their business. In 2005, GE launched the Ecoimagination community. This solver community wanted to “find technology solutions that save costs and reduce environmental impact for GE’s customers and operations.” Ecoimagination has achieved more than $200 billion in revenue and a 31 percent reduction in GHG emissions.

Creating a sense of community

A solver community is, first and foremost, a community. It extends far beyond its physical offices into a massive virtual network of thought leaders. These communities give people from all over the world with expertise in a variety of disciplines the opportunity to learn and work together. Companies like Starbucks invite their customers to contribute their product ideas, experience, and engagement in a solver community. This type of forum enables dialogues that promote the future of your products and brand.

A solver community avoids standstill

A solver community finds a variety of new approaches to solving old challenges facing your business. This new network consists of people with different expertise, which opens new avenues for problem solving. This melting pot of problem solvers looks at challenges from completely new perspectives. A traditional research and development department consists of a team with highly specific training. The risk of innovation stalling is dramatically reduced when you seek the help of a solver community. Dell launched the Dell Idea Storm in 2007. This platform invited the public to contribute their ideas on Dell's key challenges. This network of problem solvers consisted of Dell's users or customers, regardless of their computer science skills. Dell was able to resolve hardware and software challenges as well as common customer service issues.

Progressive problem solving

A successful company is built on its ability to anticipate the needs of its customers. However, these needs change from generation to generation. One way to adapt to this changing market is an innovative development approach. Creating a solver community to help your business is seen as a sign of a progressive organization that wants to adapt to customer needs. Quirky is an example of an innovative brand that uses a solver community to create new products. People can submit their inventions tailored to their own household needs. The final version of the product is then developed in a team. This model allows for the collection of unconventional ideas, which are then further developed by a group of problem solvers.

Better results

Studies show that companies that use a solver community are better able to address challenges than those that rely solely on a traditional research and development department. Even in highly specialized areas such as biopharma, there is room for collaborative innovation between competitors. “Medicines developed using open innovation are three times more likely to be successful,” according to a report from Deloitte Consulting.

A new training platform

A solver community is a wonderful training opportunity, even for established and reputable organizations. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an example of this. The director of NASA's Human Health and Performance Directorate, Dr. Jeffrey Davis, leads a team to solve human health problems in space. In an interview with Knowledge, the Wharton School's newspaper, NASA acknowledged that "using multiple crowdsourcing platforms, Davis proved to his colleagues at NASA that the answers to the space agency's toughest problems sometimes come from people who have no knowledge at all." “Have experience with space travel.” These ideas enabled Davis’ team to develop innovative ideas and new approaches to old problems. Through the use of a solver community, they also connected with new organizations and individuals with the tools they needed to solve their biggest challenges.

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KEYWORDS OF THIS BLOG POST

Solver Community | Troubleshooting